Slow zone (Books)
United Nations Martian Congressional Republic Outer Planets Alliance Free Navy Transport Union Laconian Empire }} The Slow Zone, the Ring Space or the Hub is the location on the other side of the Ring. It's a black, starless spherical space approximately one million kilometers across, with 1,373 individual wormholes . At the center of this space sits the . The actual location of the slow zone in space, or whether it is connected to the universe, is unknown. Background The slow zone was named for its absolute speed limit of six hundred meters per second. Any object with non-zero invariant mass moving faster than this limit is locked down by an inertial dampening field, and then begins to move towards the central Ring Station, forming a ring around it. Light still acts normally and adheres to the speed of light, but radiation made up of larger particles like alpha and beta radiation does not exist inside the slow zone. After the flotilla succeeded in following 's advice and powered down their ships, the speed limit inside the slow zone was lifted, and all rings that still had an active ring on the other side reactivated. Following this, the area became known as "the hub". The retrofitted OPA ship relocated permanently to the hub, and became Medina Station. The slow zone is blockaded at the Sol Ring by the United Nations and the Martian Congressional Republic. Refugees Belters from Ganymede however, break through the blockade and enter the slow zone and rush out to the later named Ilus system. Communication from the Sol system to slow zone and Medina Station is lost following the breakout of the Free Navy Conflict. This occurred with the help of the once OPA backed Captain, , who switched to the Free Navy and halted all traffic through the slow zone. Colony worlds were also subject to this except the Laconia system since they were allied with Laconian Imperial Navy controlled it. Six months after the Consolidated Fleet defeats the Free Navy in the Slow Zone, James Holden proposes what will become the Transport Union. Which will be run by Belters and will manage the flow of ships in and out of the Slow Zone. Media |-| Images= Dandlion Sky.jpg Sun vs Slow zone size.jpg |-| Videos= Images and video from Kelvin Paul Marchioro. Notes * The "speed limit" is described as an active defense mechanism of the Ring Station in rather than a fundamental change in constants of nature. "The speed limit grips the hull of the ships but anything inside is unaffected." This effect is used as a key plot elements throughout . Bullets fired from weapons behave normally inside ships. A grenade fired by a Martian marine on Ring Station though "comes to a halt and drops to the ground centimeters from the barrel." When the speed limit is dropped, crew and passengers are killed or injured due to the sudden deceleration of the ships hulls. * Initial readings also suggest that the background microwave radiation in the slow zone is older than the Big Bang. Trivia * One of the working titles for was Dandelion Sky. }} Category:Locations